Banned in Europe, Safe in the U.S.

Have you ever wondered who determined which chemicals were safe and which ones were not? Why is it that different governments come up with different answers.

Banned in Europe, Safe in the U.S.

As of June 9th, 2014 children in the United States can drink fruit juice drinks that have been made with red dye no. 40 and even eat macaroni and cheese that has been colored with yellow dye no. 5 and no. 6. While in the United Kingdom these artificial colorings were taken off the market due to extreme health concerns. Throughout the rest of Europe products that had this in them mist be labeled with warnings of the dyes’ adverse effects on children’s attention and their behavior. A herbicide known as Atrazine which is used in the United States was also banned back in 2003 in Europe because it is a water pollutant, yet it is still being used all the time in the United States.

There are also several pesticides used in the United States that the European Commission say definitely pose a high risk to bees. They have placed it under a two-year moratorium. Over ninety percent of the corn in the United States is treated with these pesticides as well as other plants. Almost all of these pesticides have been identified as toxic to bees in many different scientific studies. These pesticides are likely contributing to the alarming global decline of these pollinators that we need.

There is also no restriction on the use of formaldehyde or ingredients that release formaldehyde in cosmetics or personal care products in the United States. While these things are banned in Japan and Sweden. Also being limited in many other places including Europe.

I’m sure this doesn’t come as a surprise because it seems nowadays everyone knows the U.S. is only trying to benefit itself and the government. The public’s health and well-being doesn’t matter to them at all.

Precaution

Europe has a very different approach on things than the United States. They have what is called ‘Precautionary Principle.’ This aims to ensure that they meet a higher level of environmental protection through preventing things that can harm it from being used. So whether there is credible evidence or not they still want to ensure they take all protective actions needed no matter the situation. While the United States federal government sets a high bar for proof of harm that it must literally be demonstrated before regulatory action will be taken. If you take a look at the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act you will notice that the federal law regulates chemicals used commercially in the U.S. The European (REACH) requires manufacturers to submit a full set of toxicity data to the European Chemical Agency before they can approve it for use. The U.S. requires that for new chemicals but leaves an enormous gap in term of what’s known about the environmental health effects of the chemicals that have been already in use.

Different Conclusions

Even though both countries have considered the same evidence they have come up with different conclusions. Like in the case of those red and yellow dyes. The U.K. found these to increase children’s hyperactivity and banned the use or made sure a label was used with a warning. While the U.S. found their results to be considered inconclusive and are still using these dyes without regulation today.

As it has been noticed the United States has laws in place to regulate the chemical use in foods and cosmetics, these were first in place to protect American consumers from being sold mislabeled products. Rather than letting them know about the toxicity of these things.

Options

Consumer concern has helped push out a few of these harmful things, but there are still many of them being used in this U.S. It is imperative to know what you are putting into your body and the effects it can have on you and your health. The United States really needs a different approach in determining what product are safe for use and which ones aren’t. We really need to implement stricter regulations on these things and find out what they will do to the environment before using them as well as finding out what the ones we are already using are doing. source: Organic Health